Missouri State Fair
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Missouri State Fairgrounds Historic District
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2011 Missouri State Fair - Ferris Wheel at Sunset
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| Location | Roughly bounded by US 65, Co. Rd. Y, Clarendon Rd. and the Missouri--Kansas--Texas RR tracks, Sedalia, Missouri |
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| Coordinates | 38°41′40″N 93°15′23″W / 38.69444°N 93.25639°WCoordinates: 38°41′40″N 93°15′23″W / 38.69444°N 93.25639°W |
| Area | 215 acres (87 ha) |
| Built by | Bast, Thomas W.; Et al. |
| Architectural style | Art Deco, Mission/spanish Revival, Romanesque |
| NRHP Reference # | 91000853 |
| Added to NRHP | June 28, 1991 |
The Missouri State Fair is the state fair for the state of Missouri, which has operated since 1901 in Sedalia, Missouri. It includes daily concerts, exhibits and competitions of animals, homemade crafts, shows, and many food/lemonade stands, and it only lasts 11 days. Its most famous event is the mule show, which has run since its inception. The fairgrounds are located at 2503 W 16th Street on the southwest side of the city at the intersection of West 16th Street (State Highway Y) and South Limit Avenue (U.S. Highway 65).
In 2015, the Missouri State Fair had an attendance of about 350,000 people. It has won numerous first-place and other awards at the annual conference of the International Association of Fairs and Expositions (IAFE), especially for its promotion of agricultural exhibitors.
In 1897, N. H. Gentry of Sedalia persuaded the Missouri Swine Breeders Association to request the Missouri General Assembly to establish a state fair. In 1899 a resolution for the fair was introduced by C.E. Clark.
The state considered locating the fair in Centralia, Chillicothe, Marshall, Mexico, Moberly and Sedalia. Cities made offers of land which they would commit to the fair.
After ten ballots, Sedalia received the majority vote; it had bid 150 acres (0.61 km2), the most amount of land of any city to be devoted to the fairgrounds. The Van Riper family, who had set land aside for the location of the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri, also donated the site in Sedalia.
The first Missouri State Fair was held September 9–13 in 1901. One of the most distinctive aspects of the early fairs was the "white city": the 24 acres (97,000 m2) of tents, each for rent by exhibitors.
Odessa Ice Cream was the official ice cream at the Missouri State Fair in the 1930s.
The Missouri State Fairgrounds are now used year-round and generate revenue in every season, for more than 350 days out of the available 365. The Ozark Music Festival was held there July 19-21, 1974 with an estimated crowd of 350,000 people. Off-season usage includes music concerts, camper rallies, livestock shows, organized athletic leagues and tournaments, auto races, craft shows, and youth rallies.
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Wikipedia